


In Aeternum

by Dr3amingInColour



Series: Soulmates [3]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Red Bull, Soulmates, alcohol involved, work party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-17 18:16:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13082553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dr3amingInColour/pseuds/Dr3amingInColour
Summary: It was never meant to be this hard for them.





	In Aeternum

**Author's Note:**

  * For [skellingfish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/skellingfish/gifts).



> Hii, I hope you enjoy this fic :) title from the Latin for the phrase "for eternity" which I've loosely based this upon :)

Soulmates in the 21st century weren’t rare, but they certainly weren’t commonplace. About 1 in 20 newborns had a set of initials on their wrist, ink in various shades of green, blue and brown. These initials were there for life, there to unite 2 individuals who were meant to be in love.

Life for Daniel Ricciardo was straightforward, growing up in the Perth suburbs. His parents checked his wrist at birth, no soulmark present, so he was told he wouldn’t ever have a soulmate. He never questioned this fact, whatever his parents told him was correct, and he believed them until age 8, when a burning sensation on his wrist woke him in his sleep. Running into his parents’ room at 5 in the morning wasn’t the best cause of action, but Daniel didn’t know better, so yelled to wake his mum.

“It really hurts mum, it’s burning, it’s itching, what’s going on?” he asked his mum, tears spilling over his eyes whilst his speech became more frantic. Grace turned the lights on to check his wrist, gasping when noticing the 2 letters starting to form.

“Sweetie, don’t worry. You know I told you that you didn’t have a soulmate. Well you do now, I think they’ve just been born.” Grace explained carefully, trying to calm her crying son. “Your wrist will soon not be painful, and you’ll know who you’re destined to love, Danny. I’ll take you back to bed, yeah?” She continued, before slowly walking Daniel back to his room, letting him try sleep.

\---

“And it’s a healthy baby boy!” the nurse announced, before wrapping the newborn in blankets, keeping him warm. She took a quick look at his wrist, and saw amber writing, the letters “DR” a stark contrast with the pink of his skin and the white blankets he was wrapped in.

“We would like to name him Max. Max Emilian Verstappen.” Sophie said to the nurse after holding her newly born child, Max, for the first time. She smiled down at the bundle in her arms, his piercing blue eyes looking back at her, a small pout etched on his lips. He let out a little gurgle, and at that moment she almost cried, this was _her_ child, _she_ would be raising him.

\---

Throughout childhood, Max felt curiosity about the lines adorning his wrist. He didn't know anything about his true love, except that they had amber eyes and their initials were DR. He was hoping his soulmate was a girl, to make his father happy, as it was no secret Jos despised same sex relationships. But if his soulmate was another guy, he would still be happy. Because he knew there was someone out there who loved him unconditionally.

For Daniel, soulmates were harder to deal with. He hated the idea that who he loved was already predetermined, and so made no effort to recognise the letters on his wrist, instead placing a thick leather cuff over the writing, keeping the letters away from his sight.

The first person Daniel thought could be his soulmate was a girl he met in Italy, Michaela. She was stunning to Daniel, made his heart go double time, with her long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, a perfect contrast to her sun kissed skin. But as their friendship blossomed, Daniel got a glimpse of her wrist, and his initials were not there, instead reading ‘SL’. At that moment, Daniel experienced heartbreak for the first time, the aching feeling of rejection.

But, he knew there was someone out there who could save him the trouble of heartbreak again, and love him unconditionally. So cautiously, he removed the leather strap that adorned his wrist since the age of 12.

2 letters stared back at him, in a rich shade of blue. It reminded him of the ocean, the flowing waves rolling onto the beach shores, the soundtrack to many afternoons growing up in Perth. He then read the letters slowly, trying to think of who his lover could be. All he knew is that they had eyes like the ocean, and their name had the initials MV.

Those letters continued to haunt him through school, keeping him on the lookout for the one who could be his one true love. But by the time prom came around, he was still alone, no soulmate for company. So to remember school, he spent the night in the company of his best mates, with a little too much beer. Safe to say, the memories were a little hazy in Daniel’s mind.

Little did Max know this was happening though, he wasn’t even at secondary school. He didn’t know anything about prom, or relationships for that matter. He didn’t even know he had a soulmate, his parents kept a cuff on his wrist at all times, making sure he wouldn’t be distracted by romance. This didn’t stop him at school though, he still came out of school with the best grades in his year, and a place at London’s School Of Economics. One other thing he didn’t know is that his soulmate had completed the same degree he was taking, but 3 years beforehand.

\---

“Our Christmas gathering’s tonight, you said you’d help out right?” one of Daniel’s employees questioned, wondering whether he had written the detail down correctly. To the employee’s relief, Daniel did say yes, he was attending, as it was his duty as a boss to be there.

He currently managed the finance division of Red Bull, which was quite an opportunity for someone of his age. But graduating with a 1st class masters degree in financial management was enough to win the CEO’s over, and over the course of 3 years, he built his way up from a sales executive to head of finances.

Daniel knew everyone from the company’s European offices would be flying in to Spielberg, where the annual get together would take place in Hangar 47. He was excited to see the new faces from the brand, as well as his good friends from other branches, and wished the working day would hurry up so he could finally let loose for the evening.

As soon as the clock hit 5, he was out the door, back to his apartment to change into his outfit for the night. He always liked to look presentable but with his own personal twist, so Daniel chose a teal short sleeve shirt, black trousers and a matching blazer and bowtie. It felt overly formal, but for a gathering like this, casual attire was frowned upon.

Around 2 hours later, he stepped into the lobby of Hangar 47, with many people welcoming him with a subtle smile. He just gave them a small glance whilst walking, for he didn’t actually know who they were. He found the bar quickly, ordering a beer straight away, to ease the nerves slightly. He barely knew anyone in the room, and wasn’t good at meeting new people.

For Max, this was his first gala, being an intern, and had no idea what to expect. So walking into Hangar 47 to see the open plan turned into a bar area, dance floor and communal area, that majorly overwhelmed Max, not quite expecting events to be so grand. He felt incredibly underdressed, despite meeting the dress code requirements. But what he noticed was that there was a burning sensation in his wrist, and a faint amber glow from behind the material of the navy shirt. That could only mean 1 thing, Max’s soulmate was also in the building.

Daniel was also feeling the burn of his soulmark, but the blue glow was much more evident for him, and he couldn’t hide from it. So he grabbed another beer, before walking over to the dance floor to join Sebastian and Hanna, his German counterparts. There, they ended up in a mass of bodies, trying to produce moves to whatever song was on.

“Dan, that guy’s wrist’s glowing too!” Sebastian yelled about half an hour after they started dancing to all the generic tunes, Hanna ditching her heels about 5 minutes in. Sure enough, there was another guy standing by the bar, who’s wrist was glowing, and in the exact same colour as Daniel’s eyes.

“I don't even know the guy, Sebastian! I’m not going over there to just be rejected, because he doesn’t have the same initials on his wrist as me!” Daniel replied, before running a hand through his relatively tamed curls. His heart was beating double time, thinking that he could finally meet ‘the one’, as people called it.

“Good job I know who he is then. He originally interned for our office before moving to yours, think his name was Max, I’m not too sure. Pretty sure his eye colour is the same blue as your wrist though Daniel.” Sebastian fought back, determined to make it work. At this moment, Hanna decided to go take a rest in a chair in the next room, leaving Sebastian alone with Daniel to sort their problems.

“I won’t do it unless I’m certain, just so you know Seb.” Daniel replied, closing the conversation this way. But with each passing minute, Daniel grew more curious about his potential soulmate, catching his eyes a couple of times. The thought did scare him, that his soulmate might be another guy, but it was love at the end of the day and Dan had no problems with that. It was the issue of his parents that worried him, wondering if they’d still accept him if he came home, hand in hand with another man, _the man he loved._

Over by the bar, Max was watching their interaction with curiosity, seeing the blonde animatedly talking with a brunette guy he didn’t recognise. His dark curls hung loosely, and Max felt some sort of attraction to him. He knew the guy had a blue glow coming from his wrist, but looking over at him and Sebastian, it was clear to see he wasn’t meant to be with the guy.

“Hey, can I have another beer please?” Max asked the bartender, before another pint was piled up next to the other 2 glasses, evidence that he wasn’t exactly sober.

The extra alcohol gave him a slight confidence boost, so Max thought it was a somewhat good idea to head onto the dance floor, to try find his ex colleague and the mystery brunette he was with. It proved rather easy to find said blonde, for his flailing arms and rather bad rendition of Adventure Of A Lifetime easily gave away his identity.

“Oh, er… hi Max?” the German stuttered, his cheeks colouring pink after the Dutchman caught him drunkenly singing Coldplay with Daniel.

“Sebastian, nice to see you again.” Max casually replied, trying to get his voice heard over the pumping bassline of whatever song was currently playing. “And who’s this with you, I haven’t seen him before?”

“Oh hi, I’m Daniel, used to work with Seb back when we were both really young.” The Australian let out a little giggle, before politely shaking the Dutchman’s hand as a greeting.

“I’m gonna go check on Hanna now, I’ll leave you two to it. Just don’t do anything stupid, I know how much alcohol you've both had!” Sebastian yelled over his shoulder, leaving the 2 alone, with a mild pink tint coating Max’s cheeks.

Max saw Daniel flashing the middle finger to Sebastian as the German was walking away, a sigh escaping his lips moments later, before the Australian’s gaze fell upon Max.

“I'm sorry about Seb, he just likes messing with my love life I guess” Daniel tried to reason, trying to hint to Max why Sebastian left them alone. He sure knew why they were left alone but he wasn't sure if Max knew why.

“So he just saw both of our glowing wrists and tried to put two and two together?” Max questioned in reply, suddenly feeling awfully sober. To this, Daniel simply nodded his head in a small motion, confirming this was the case.

“What if he was, you know, onto something?” Max questioned, before unbuttoning the sleeve of his shirt, to reveal his soulmark to Daniel, to try help the situation.

“Tho… those are my initials, Max.” Was the stuttered reply from the Australian, too stunned by the situation to do anything else. Eventually he managed to take off his blazer, revealing the set of initials on his wrist for Max to see.

“And those are my initials on your wrist too!” came the reply from the Dutchman, voice a little higher than normal from the shock over the situation.

“I guess Seb really was right then” The Australian sighed again, but this time with more of a smile, knowing that for once, his friend had done something useful.

“He was, but I’m glad I found you because of it.” Max softly replied, before taking the Australian’s hand in his, gently running his thumb over the palm of Daniel’s hand. The feelings in their wrists subsided at this contact, the feeling of burning being replaced with bliss, euphoria.

The pair spent the next half hour in relative silence, just enjoying the company as the music continued on. Eventually, the clock came close to midnight, and the end was close. There was one more song left, and both had a good idea on what it might be.

 _“When your legs don’t work like they used to before, and I can’t sweep you off of your feet.”_ the song started out, and their feelings were confirmed.

“Max, can I have this dance?” a faint voice was audible above the guitar riff, and he could see Daniel’s hand presented to him, a begging deep in his amber eyes. Max instantly took up the offer, entwining his hand with Daniel’s, latching the other around Dan’s other arm. The eye contact was held, light amber meeting ocean blue, as a gentle sway developed in time with the music.

 _“And we found love right where we are.”_ The song closed off, however the lights in Hangar 47 remained dim, keeping the atmosphere at a constant. Max’s lips edged slightly closer to Daniel’s in the moments after the song, having drifted closer already whilst dancing together. With a surge of confidence, Max removed his arm from Daniel’s grasp and placed it behind the Australian’s neck, before dragging him closer, resting their foreheads together.

“Do you want this?” was heard as a breathless whisper from Max, voice low from the desire running through his veins.

“Since I first saw you, I’ve wanted this.” was the reply from Daniel, desire also running through his veins as his gaze became more intense. He slowly leaned up to capture Max’s lips in a kiss, and it was everything he imagined and more. Max’s lips were quite chapped, and tasted a little of beer, but also of citrus, which was a smell evident from the Dutchman’s cologne.

Max’s hands started to wonder dangerous low, playing with the hem of Daniel’s shirt. The Australian’s hands were also starting to wonder to places they shouldn’t, also trying to get skin to skin contact with Max.

Eventually, the lights came back up to full brightness, which snapped the pair out of the act. Max’s cheeks soon found a bright pink tint, whilst Daniel only looked back at his soulmate with a devious grin.

“Why don’t we head back to mine? It’s not far to go, and I can tell we aren’t done for the night.”

Max couldn’t remember running any faster to leave a building.


End file.
